


A Sensitive Assignment

by kerrykhat



Series: Watching the Warehouse [1]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Warehouse 13
Genre: AU: Warehouse 13 Season 1, Crossover, Gen, Post-Series: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-26
Updated: 2012-11-05
Packaged: 2017-11-12 22:54:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/496560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kerrykhat/pseuds/kerrykhat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Dawn pictured herself as a Watcher, she was never stationed in the middle-of-nowhere South Dakota.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Sensitive Assignment

When Dawn imagined herself as a Watcher, it was normally patrolling a graveyard in London, or browsing through ancient scrolls in the vaults of national libraries. She saw herself finally being seen as an equal by her sister, somebody Buffy could turn to in apocalypse season for a critical translation or simply as back-up. She did not see herself standing on a dusty road in South Dakota in front of a neat blue building. About five feet from where she was standing, a sign announced that this was “Leena’s Boardinghouse.”

“Sensitive assignment, my ass,” Dawn muttered under her breath as she continued to glare at the building. “Buffy just wanted me away from any major Hellmouth action.” Four years at Harvard for both her undergrad and her master’s, two more years at Oxford studying ancient and modern Languages, and she was still being treated like a fourteen-year-old who couldn’t fend for herself.

Dawn quickly ran through her assignment in her head before continuing to the front door. The new Slayer--one Claudia Donovan--had only recently been located, due to her constantly moving around after her brother had disappeared. Unfortunately, the reason she was now in one spot for more than a week was because she was working for an organization almost as old as the Watcher’s Council, and just as secretive. The logical part of Dawn realized that as a founding member of the New Council, she was the most ideal choice to send, but the more emotional part of her felt like she was being exiled here.

 _Might as well make the most of it,_ she thought glumly. She had reached the front door at this point. Before she could knock, the door opened, the frame filled by a dark-skinned, curly-haired woman who looked like she was in her mid-twenties. Dawn felt the woman’s power touch her skin and resisted the urge to shiver. 

“Can I help you?” the woman asked, somewhat abruptly. Dawn forced a smile on her face.

“My name’s Dawn Summers,” she introduced herself. “I’m looking for Claudia Donovan.”

“Claudia’s not here right now,” the other woman answered. “Why are you looking for her?”

“I’m sorry, but it’s confidential,” Dawn answered firmly. The woman studied her intently for a moment before stepping aside. Dawn tried to ignore the feeling that she had just been read like Tara used to read people, and hoped that it wasn’t the case. She didn’t want to have to explain to Buffy that yet another person discovered that she was the Key.

“Leena, I’ll take it from here,” came an authorative voice from behind Dawn. She bit back a gasp and turned around. Behind her was a middle-aged woman in a navy blue suit. “My name is Mrs. Frederic,” she continued, looking at Dawn through a pair of thin glasses. “And I believe we have much to talk about, Dawn Summers.”


	2. The Best Laid Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This was just supposed to be a relatively straightforward recruiting job, with the added slight inconvenience of another organization being involved. Dawn had a suspicion that things were about to get much more complicated.

Standing in a small office-type room in Leena’s boarding house, Dawn examined the woman standing calmly in front of her. Years of living with Slayers had tuned her senses to the point where it was very, very hard for somebody to sneak up on her, but that’s just what this woman had just done while they were standing outside. She tried not to show how much that rattled her.

They were alone in the room. The bodyguard that accompanied Mrs. Frederic was outside, and Leena had closed the door behind her after leading them to this room. What had Giles thrown her into this time? This was just supposed to be a relatively straightforward recruiting job, with the added slight inconvenience of another organization being involved. She had a sneaking suspicion that things were about to get much, much more complicated very quickly.

“Correct me if I’m mistaken, but you are affiliated with the Watchers’ Council, Ms. Summers,” Mrs. Frederic began, taking a seat in the chair behind the desk. Dawn sat down across from her, feeling uncomfortably like she was being called to the principal’s office. “Given your organization’s purpose and given Ms. Donovan’s age, I can only assume you’re here for one reason.”

“If what you’re thinking is that Claudia’s a Slayer, then yes, that’s the primary reason that I’m here,” Dawn answered smoothly, clasping her hands in front of her so she wouldn’t give into the urge to play with her hair and show how nervous she was. “For the last few years, ever since we’ve restructured the Council, we’ve tried to make contact with new Slayers in order to give them the choice whether or not they would like to join us. If they refuse, we try at least give them the knowledge they might need to survive, as well as methods to contact us if a situation arises.”

The older woman didn’t respond, and Dawn internally sighed. Even though it had been over five years since the old guard had been blown to bits by the First, they still were left to deal with repairing their legacy. 

“I don’t know what your dealings were with the old Council, Mrs. Frederic, but I assure you, if Claudia doesn’t want training, we’ll leave her alone. But, if she agrees, I’m willing to stay here as her personal Watcher, and help establish a working relationship between our two organizations.”

This was not how Dawn expected her assignment to go. Sure, she figured she’d have to deal with the Regents, but that was after she’d explained things to Claudia. Nowhere in the briefing Giles had given her was there any mention of a Mrs. Frederic, which left Dawn at a loss with how to deal with her. There was nothing in the woman’s face which gave Dawn any insight into what she was thinking or how she was reacting to what she was hearing. 

Mrs. Frederic studied Dawn for a moment, before asking, “What do you know about the Regents and the purpose of our organization, Ms. Summers?”

“Only that you’re as old as the Watcher’s Council and have the same obsessive secret-keeping habits as we do,” Dawn answered slowly. “I’ve found mention of agents in several documents in our collection, but nothing too descriptive.”

“Claudia should have returned from town by now,” Mrs. Frederic said, standing up suddenly. “After that, come with me. There’s something I need to show you.”

“What is it?”

Mrs. Frederic gave Dawn an enigmatic smile. “A world of endless wonder,” she answered cryptically before opening the door to reveal a young woman standing outside.

“Hey, Mrs. F. Leena said that there was somebody here to see me?” she asked. Claudia Donovan looked exactly like the photo Giles had included in Dawn’s briefing packet, except that the stripe in her hair was a vivid green rather than a dark purple. She looked at Dawn for a moment before turning her attention back to Mrs. Frederic.

“Claudia, this is Dawn Summers from the International Watcher’s Council. I believe she has something she’d like to discuss with you.”

“IWC? I was wondering when you’d finally show up,” Claudia said with a shrug. “You here to tell me about being a Chosen One and fighting the forces of darkness?”

Dawn resisted the urge to close her eyes and pull a Giles by pinching the bridge of her nose. Of course she already knew. Nothing about this assignment was going the way she’d expected it to. Why should it start going to plan now?


End file.
